Our local Waldorf school and local Waldorf college isn't "anti-reading before 7" they're just "anti-teaching reading before 7." They heavily favor a fantastical, magical imagination and oral tradition that allows for rich language development. They also believe that if you wait to teach a child to read until maximum brain development- they will learn to read quickly and without struggle. In many ways, this actually makes sense for ND kids. Forcing reading instruction at 4 or 5 can ruin a child's love of reading, make it always a chore and create a power struggle where it doesn't need to exist. The delay in teaching writing would also solve many of our problems here- fine motor skills that don't allow the child to perform quickly enough.
I think Waldorf would have worked well for my DS. He loves pretend, poetry, music, fairy tales and could sit for hours listening to stories. The focus on ethics, emotions, morality and festive occasions would have fit nicely into our lives! That being said, we wouldn't have survived our local Waldorf methods school because they require you to get rid of your television and sign a pledge :-)
Last edited by CAMom; 03/23/09 08:55 AM.
